Recently the PCBS published the quarterly hotel activities survey results based on the responses of 109 out of the 118 hotels in the West Bank including East Jerusalem for the third quarter of 2014. The geographic distribution of these hotels was as follows: 15 in the northern part of the West Bank, 36 in the middle part, 36 in the southern part, and 22 in East Jerusalem.

According to the survey, a total of 99,811 guests stayed in these hotels, which is 52% below the number in the previous quarter and 27% less than in the corresponding quarter of 2013. These nearly 100,000 guests spent 272.567 guest nights. Once again, this figure marks a significant decline from Q2/2014 (-45%) and Q3/2013 (-15%). Similar to previous periods, more than a quarter of the guests came from EU countries and about a tenth were Palestinians.

In Q3/2014, hotels employed 2,927 workers, and only 23% of them were female.

This pronounced decline in hotel activities is not surprising taking into consideration the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which was launched on 8 July and continued for 51 days. Historical data show significant drops in tourist visits during times of military conflicts in the region, especially in Q1/2009 when the number of hotel guests and guest nights in Palestinian hotels decreased by about 40% from the previous quarter and by 20% from the corresponding quarter of the previous year after the 2008/2009 Israeli war on Gaza. The figure below depicts the quarterly number of guests and guest nights in the past eight years.

Figure: Quarterly Number of Hotel Guests and Guest Nights, Q1/2007-Q3/2014